It might be Gabriel Martinelli’s time to shine at Arsenal

With the Europa League less than a week ahead, it might be time for Gabriel Martinelli to finally get his chance to shine at Arsenal.

Gabriel Martinelli has been one of Arsenal’s most interesting new talents over the last couple of years but injuries kept him away from the limelight. Now that he is recovered from his problems, he is finally starting to get the notoriety he completely deserves. Mikel Arteta is happy he can count on a young talent as great as the Brazilian lad, who is quite versatile to use anywhere on the attack.

Although he is considered a striker, Martinelli can perform in various positions on the pitch. Lately he’s dominated as a winger on either side and Mikel Arteta is taking note of what he can do in more important games. We have the Europa League semifinals against Villarreal in mind. Where the Gunners are set to do a replay of the 2006 Champions League semifinals against the Spanish side. In order to find victory, Arteta needs to get a little creative with his lineups.

Inside Forward (Martinelli – Sterling). Wingers with ST instincts aren’t uncommon to exploit in a 4-3-3. With Gabi, Arteta can replicate Sterling’s goal-threat by deploying a LW with flawless half-space & back-post movement, impeccable timing, and a ST’s impulse for space pic.twitter.com/HhJJZ1NlOh
— 6 (@MezzaIIa) April 23, 2021

Martinelli as a winger?

This is where Gabriel Martinelli’s versatility comes into the picture. With a lack of players on the sides at Mikel Arteta’s disposal, the gaffer needs to find solutions that can actually benefit the club. Enter Gabriel Martinelly as a winger. We are talking about a player who can actually reinvent his entire game from a striker to a player who can cut to the middle from the sides.

Why does this sound so familiar? That’s right! A certain Thierry Henry did just that when he arrived to the Gunners from Juventus. Mikel Arteta already has an idea of what he might be able to do with Martinelli on the sides: “Martinelli is a center-forward but with the squad balance that we have at the moment, to play on those positions on the left we don’t have five players,” said Mikel during the latest press conference.